1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a method for supplying a divided component which is separated previously into individual parts and is stored in a storage body and bringing a divided component after being processed back into the storage body, and an apparatus for executing the method. The divided component is, e.g., individual semiconductor substrate cut from a semiconductor wafer.
2. Description of Related Art
A circuit board with a plurality of the same circuit sections 24 formed therein, that is, a bulk circuit board 23 is sent to an electronic component mounting apparatus to secure high productivity, as shown in FIG. 18. Every one or every plurality of electronic components 21 held by an electronic component mounting nozzle 20 are mounted to the circuit sections 24 of the circuit board 23 by the nozzle 20. A circuit board with the electronic components mounted is carried out when the electronic components 21 are mounted to all circuit sections 24 of the circuit board 23. The component mounted circuit board is separated into individual circuit parts 26 with the electronic components and then the separated circuit parts 26 are supplied to a next process.
In the case where the electronic components 21 are mounted to the circuit sections 24 by flip-chip mounting, more specifically, electrodes 28 on each circuit section 24 are connected to electrodes 25 of the corresponding electronic component 21 via bumps 22 as shown in FIG. 19, and then the circuit board 23 is separated into individual circuit parts 26 by a cracking along scribe lines. In this case, since the circuit sections 24 are warped, a stress acts on each connected part between the electrodes 28 on the circuit section 24 and the electrodes 25 on the electronic component 21. Thus the connected part may be disconnected by the stress, that is, the stress may cause a junction failure. For solving the problem, the circuit board 23 is separated beforehand into the individual circuit sections 24 and the divided circuit sections 24 are supplied to the electronic component mounting apparatus for mounting of the electronic components 21 thereto, and then individual circuit parts 26 mounting the electric components 21 thereon are transferred to the next process as mentioned above.
However, an effective means for supplying each divided circuit section 24 to the electronic component mounting apparatus and transferring the finished circuit parts 26 to the next process has not yet been devised.
The present invention accordingly provides a method for mounting components and an apparatus for executing the method whereby each divided component can be supplied in a manner that will not give rise to a junction failure at a junction part where the divided component and a component mounted on the divided component are connected. Also, a divided component with the component mounted on the divided component can be transferred, so that the divided component with the component mounted thereto is improved in quality.
According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for mounting a component which comprises:
taking out a divided component separated from a collective part from a storage body;
mounting a component to the taken divided component; and
storing a divided component with the component mounted thereto into the storage body again.
According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided an apparatus for mounting component, which comprises:
a storage body for storing a divided component separated from a collective part;
a take-out and storage unit which takes out the divided component from the storage body, brings back the divided component with component mounted thereto into the storage body, further transfers the divided component from the storage body to a component mount stage where the component is mounted to the divided component and transfers the divided component with the component mounted thereto from the component mount stage to the storage body;
a mounting unit which mounts the component to the divided component taken out by the take-out and storage unit thereby forming the divided component with the component mounted thereto; and
a control unit which controls operations of the take-out and storage unit and the mounting unit.
According to the component mount method in the first aspect of the present invention and the component mounting apparatus in the second aspect of the present invention, there are provided the take-out and storage unit and the mounting unit, whereby the component is mounted to the divided component taken out from the storage body and then the divided component with the component mounted thereto is collected into the storage body again. Accordingly, regarding any component such that a problem is occurred when a collective part mounting components thereto is separated to a respective divided component with the component mounted thereto as the conventional art, in the present invention, the divided component separated previously from the collective part can be supplied by the storage body storing the divided component, and the component can be mounted to the individual divided component. Therefore, each divided component with the component mounted thereto is improved in quality without the inconvenience experienced in the prior art. Moreover, the divided components with the components can be collected again into the storage body, so that each divided component can be handled with ease.